The 13-year-old company identified mobile technology as a key growth area about six years ago, Gellman says, and began hiring and training engineers with mobile expertise. As of last year about 15 percent of Spire’s business came from developing mobile applications, but this year it has grown to half. The LoDo company employs about 25.

A big contract with AT&T is driving much of the growth, Gellman says. Spire began consulting the phone giant and its clients about three years ago on mobile technology. That evolved into a partnership in which Spire became one of three companies developing custom mobile apps for AT&T business customers.

The applications include mobile portals, moble sales-force programs and point-of-sale technology. In one case, Spire developed an app forTexasliquor distributor Glazer’s that allows its customers to quickly compare competitors’ prices. Other clients include Rent-A-Center and Intermountain Healthcare.

Gellman says Spire is already looking out for the next big technological innovation. “We think HTML5 is going unify mobile and web applications, but you never know,” he says. “We’re building up our staff and expertise in HTML5.”